The Wreck of a Wedding
by Dragonagefan98
Summary: Elissa Cousland is very much in love with Alistair, but will her past relationship with Zevran get in the way of the most important day of her life?
1. Chapter 1 - The Wedding From Hell

**Chapter 1 - The Wedding From Hell**

Elissa Cousland was wearing the most beautiful wedding dress that anyone had ever seen. "Fit for a queen, and the Hero of Ferelden," Leliana had told her as she laughed.

The long, white fabric clung to her entire body, and the belt tugged at her waist. It practically was cutting off her breath. Beautiful, flowery lace wrapped around the fabric, making her look stunning and quite slender. Her hair was tied back and her black curls fell down to the end of her spine. There was black eyeliner surrounding her blue eyes and her full lips were a coated with a light pink lipstick.

"You look absolutely remarkable." She was glad that Wynne was there, mainly for the moral support.

"Thank you, do you think he'll like it?" Elissa asked, referring to Alistair, the king of Ferelden.

"He'd be stupid not to," Leliana chimed in. "You're gorgeous, and Alistair has had his eyes on you ever since he first saw you." She jumped off the counter she was leaning on. She was wearing her dark purple, Maid of Honor's dress. It fit her perfectly. Elissa smiled to herself, clearly she had chosen right. "But enough of this, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I. You are going to marry the man of your dreams, and it will be a ceremony that everyone will talk about in years to come!"

"Just out of curiosity, what will you do if Zevran shows up?" Wynne had picked up a book and was flipping through the pages, but Elissa knew she wasn't truly reading it.

"I'll tell you what _I'll _do; I will throw him out of the chantry myself if I have to. Nothing will ruin what I've worked so hard to create." Leliana folded her arms over her chest during her fit of rage.

"He hasn't tried to contact me at all since …" Elissa looked down at her hands. She had kept that memory for herself, even Alistair didn't know about the letter. She remembered it as if she was reading it for the first time again.

_My Dearest Elissa,_

_I know we ended things quite abruptly and I should not have reacted the way I did. What can you say though, hmm? I am Zevran. I am used to getting what I want. Do you still have the earring that I gave you? I sometimes dream that you hold it in your fingers every night and kiss it as if you were remembering the kisses we shared. I hope that you forgive me. I never meant those terrible things I said to you. I was so hurt that you had chosen to marry him rather than spend the rest of your days with me wondering the world._

_If you do not reply, I will assume that you no longer want anything to do with me and you've shoved those past feelings aside. You will not hear from me again. However, if I get a letter back from you, I will know that you still care for me, and I will come find you, and take you away. Forgive me, my love._

_Zevran._

She hadn't responded to him, and she could practically see the pain on his face when he realized he would not get a letter back from her. That night she had kissed his earring and whispered "I'm so sorry," to it, and just for a moment, she felt like he had heard her.

"Since when?" Leliana demanded, bringing her out of her daze.

Elissa sat down on the nearest chair and put her head in her hands. "He sent me a letter, but I didn't reply to him. No one knows." Leliana's eyes widened. "I burned it after I read it. He told me if I didn't write him back then he'd know I didn't want to be with him."

"Are you insane?! Why didn't you tell someone?! Can you imagine if the public had found out?! If Alistair had found out?!" Leliana paced around the room, almost like she was trying to plan something.

Wynne laid her hand gently on Elissa's shoulder. "There is no need to fret about it. You were with Zevran even before the attack at Denerim. Surely you shouldn't kick yourself for something that happened so long ago."

Fergus charged into the room, silencing all of their talk. "Well, come on now, everyone is waiting for you." He had a huge smile on his face. This was the first time Elissa had seen her brother really smile since the night before Arl Howe's men attacked their castle. After Fergus' wife and son were killed, he'd hardly even slept. No one could really blame him though.

"Oh, of course, it is time." Leliana pulled Elissa out of the chair and looked at her sternly. "Don't you worry; I will be there if even one thing goes awry." She gave a secretive look, and Elissa knew she was talking about Zevran.

Elissa took her brother's hand and let him lead her into the celebration chamber. Her palms were sweaty but she was grateful that Fergus didn't wipe his hand on his clothes in disgust. She felt everyone's eyes on her. There had to be hundred's of people there. She didn't care about any of them when she saw him.

Alistair looked magnificent. He was wearing his ceremonial, golden armor, and looked perfect with his blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was gaping at her. Clearly she did look a lot better than she had thought. He looked tall and muscular. He looked like a king. They were getting closer and she wanted to run to him, but Fergus' strong grip held her in place. She assumed that he had sensed her urgency.

They stood in front of the mighty king now, and his smile was comforting. He held out his armored hand to her and she intertwined her fingers with his. She took one step onto the platform as the minister began to talk. She gracefully looked behind her at Leliana who had stealthily got to her place just as Elissa began to walk down the isle. Leliana gave her an approving smile, and for one in Elissa's life, she had felt like the world was finally on her side.

That was when the doors flew open and in walked an intruder. She could recognize the elf all too well. He stormed through the crowd of people, and at first Elissa though she was imagining it, but he was much too real for it to be in her imagination. "Zevran!" She snapped.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Lover's Intrusion

_**A/N **_

**_Sorry_ _it took so long for this chapter. I've been so busy lately. Thanks for the reviews and follows and favorites :) It really makes my day. I hope you guys like this now that I finally got time to sit down and think about where this was going. Let the fight for Elissa's love begin!_**

**Chapter 2 - A Lover's Intrusion**

"Ah, so happy to see me, my dear." His smile made Elissa glare at him intensely. He pulled out his shining dagger, it was made out of Dragon Bone. She remembered that dagger and she gasped. "So you remember? You gave this to me." He glanced over at Alistair. "It was after a long night of lovemaking. Surely you remember nights like those. I imagine you still think about them when you are with … others."

Alistair swore under his breath. He never did like Zevran. "You come into Ferelden, my country, and humiliate her on _our _wedding day. Do you have no boundaries?"

Zevran threw his head back laughing. "Me? You are the one who stole the girl from me, no? Who is truly the one with no boundaries?"

"He didn't steal me, Zev! It was my choice!" Elissa growled at him. He slightly raised his eyebrows but the humor was clear in his eyes. "Why did you come here?!"

He walked towards them. Everyone was staring at the tattooed elf. "Because I made a promise to you long ago."

Elissa's eyes narrowed knowingly at Zevran. "That's impossible! You're lying!"

The look on the king's face proved that he knew nothing of what they were speaking. His back slouched a little bit and a feeling of defeat crossed him with a blow that could knock a hurlock down to the ground.

"When have I ever lied to you, my dear? I speak the truth, but if you would rather not hear of it, I will leave right now … well, not without my goodbye kiss of course." Zevran had the same cocky smile he'd shown her so many times.

She glanced at Alistair and grabbed his hand. He gave her a sad smile and nodded to the love of his life. "Zevran." She slowly turned her head away from the king. "We will talk elsewhere, but not here … after the wedding."

Zevran gave a harsh sounding laugh at her words. "We must talk now … I fear that I will forget what I wanted to say."

"You just want to stop the wedding! I spent over a year with you in camp, Zevran, I know how you work." Alistair seemed to get more and more agitated by the second.

"Alistair, my good friend, you wound me when you treat me with such scorn. I am only here to help your lovely betrothed with a delicacy that she trusted me with a long time ago. Surely you must know of it; I would imagine that you would know everything about your wife-to-be -"

"Zevran, enough!" Elissa screamed at him. She covered her mouth, realizing what she had done and looked around at the many nobles who were staring at her.

"I haven't heard you scream my name like that before, my dear, I'm used to it out of passion not anger. But, I did not come here to do anything but tell you of your friend." Zevran crossed his arms over his chest, acting bored to anger Alistair further.

"Fine. We will talk." Elissa grabbed a hold of Alistair. "Both of you will come with me."

She led them into the room she had gotten ready for the wedding in. Wynne's books were scattered around the room. Leliana's fabric was wrapped around the arm of a chair. Everything looked the same, but the feeling of this room had changed dramatically from love to worry and fear.

"What is going on?!" Alistair finally demanded.

Elissa turned towards him. "I had a friend back at my estate in Highever. Her name was Cassie. She was … is an elf around my age. She was actually one of my servants. I told her that I would make things better for the elves and I told her that at any cost, I'd keep her alive and protect her. When Arl Howe invaded the estate, his men took her. I have no idea where she is. When Zevran and I were together, he had promised me that he would find her." She looked down at the floor and sighed. Speaking about their past time together shot pain through her heart. Glancing up at Zevran, she said, "He's never broken a promise."

Zevran showed her a small smile before he spoke. "She is still alive and being help captive in Orlais. She was sold to some slavers there -"

"Slavers in Orlais?" A familiar voice chimed in.

"Leliana?" Elissa asked. "Where are you?"

"I am right here." Suddenly the red head jumped from the ceiling and landed perfectly on her feet. "I didn't mean to speak up so suddenly. I didn't want to interrupt, but I couldn't help myself. Slavers in Orlais have never been common before." She looked over at Zevran. "I would say it's nice to see you, Zevran, but you ruined this beautiful ceremony that I put together."

"Don't remind me," Alistair groaned. "So she was sold by slavers, and you know exactly where she is?"

Zevran rolled his eyes at his urgency. "I … have a general idea. She is somewhere in Val Royeaux."

"Val Royeaux? As in the capital of Orlais?! That place is huge. We will never find her." Alistair had to remind himself to lower his voice.

Leliana suddenly chimed in. "Of course you will, because you will have me."

Elissa brightened up at the thought of it. "That's a great idea! Leliana was born there. She lived there most of her life. We can find Cassie!"

Alistair shook his head. "So we just up and go to Orlais? It's not that simple."

Zevran laughed as he said, "Not simple for you. You can stay here, your highness, and I will take care of Elissa."

Elissa took a step towards her betrothed. "Alistair, I need to do this," she whispered quietly in his ear.

He stared at her for a moment before he sighed and said, "Very well, but I'm coming with you. Eamon can watch over for me. It's only temporary."

Elissa grinned at him. "Thank you!" She kissed him swiftly on the lips.

"I can't deny you of anything, my love." Alistair moved a falling strand of hair behind her ear.

Zevran frowned at the entire scene and to stop it he announced, "Off to Orlais! Let's leave quickly."


End file.
